Is dosing in oncology gender-sensitive?

Abstract Cancer is still the second cause of death in Europe and with the aging of populations, the number of cancer patients will further increase. For Austria, the gender-specific analysis of epidemiology and survival rates of cancer in the past 10 years show that there are significant differences between men and women that could at least partly been used for the implementation of future preventive and/or therapeutic actions. Gender-specific pharmacokinetic differences for medications with narrow therapeutic index as most of the drugs used in cancer therapy have been documented for more than a decade. It would be very helpful to develop instruments allowing individualized treatment planning taking into account the age, function of relevant organs, and gender of the patient than to adhere indefinitely to body surface area.
Source: Memo - Magazine of European Medical Oncology - Category: Cancer & Oncology Source Type: research